Secret or Love
by Mzilly
Summary: AU Henry doesn't tell Jo at the shop his secret and continues to lie to her & they stop working together and he realizes he doesn't want to lose Jo.


Henry was a nervous mess holding that picture and just seeing Jo there waiting for the truth. So he invited her in the shop but Abe was the one to guide both of them somewhere private to talk as seeing Henry could barely get his thoughts together still.

As Henry and Jo both sat down on the couch that Abe guided them to, both of them just sat there for a couple minutes not saying anything. They both were so close to each other on the couch, their legs touching. Henry just kept looking at the picture frantically and just thought himself "How do I tell her without sounding crazy and scaring her off?"

Jo was looking out the window in those brief minutes of silence before she turned to her partner and said "It's a long story huh?" With a soft but almost playful tone. She then put her hand on his leg and smiled softly and said "Well I have plenty of time, so if you willing to tell me I would love to hear it".

Henry returned a soft smile back and thought to himself "God how did I get so lucky to have someone as patient and caring as Jo in my life" because he had struck gold once with Abigail who was very understanding of his curse. He only hoped that Jo would be the same way.

Henry in a soft scared voice said "I don't know where to start"

Jo saw how afraid Henry was and carefully touched a part of the photo he was holding and said with a soft caring tone "How about you start with this?"

Um..Yes. I can do that..Henry said in somewhat shaky voice.

Just as he was getting the words together about the picture….Jo's cell phone rang and it was Detective Hanson telling Jo they have a fresh case and it was a weird one.

Henry was relieved when she got the call because he thought he was off the hook and until Jo said "Look Henry, we might still have a case but I'm not letting you off easy with this" with very stern look at him.

The case involved a serial killer who every time kills a victim sews a toy on the body part they cut off and Henry, Hanson and Jo spent a week trying hunt this guy down before more victims started to stack up.

Throughout the case Jo and Henry were not their usual selves toward each other and the most of time when they talked the two only talked about the case. When Jo tried to get Henry alone to talk or tried to talk about the picture again, he would either make excuses or just focus on the case.

When they finally caught the killer he was in an abandoned toy warehouse working on his latest victim and when the case finally got wrapped up, Jo headed down to morgue to talk with Henry.

Henry was in his office finishing up paperwork from the case when he saw a familiar brunette detective walking through the door of the morgue and heading towards his office.

Henry opened the door of his office for her and greeted her with a big smile and joyfully said "Hello detective".

Jo returned his greeting with a half smile and took a seat in one of the chairs by Henry's desk and said "Henry we need to talk" in serious but almost sad tone.

Henry's mood dipped when he heard Jo say that and took a seat at his chair behind his desk.

"Henry what is going on with you?" Jo said with some anger in her voice.

She sighed and then continued to talk "You were so afraid when I showed you that picture and now you are not even talking to me"

Henry saw how upset Jo was getting so before she could get another word out, he interrupted her and said "the picture is my grandfather, my dad, and grandmother" he said almost shouting at her.

Jo sat there stunned for a couple minutes but finally spoke and said "No, Henry that's not true and you know it's not true" with sadness in her voice.

"You wouldn't have been so scared to tell me that if that's what that was" she said as she tried to calm herself down.

"Henry if someone is after you or if you're in some kind of trouble, just please tell me and we can get these guys" Jo pleaded with him.

Henry got up from his seat and started to pace back and forth behind the chair and just thought "Great Henry, look what you did now?...Why don't you just tell her the truth. That's all she wants to know."

The worry and doubt crept in Henry's mind and he knew she cared about him, she wouldn't be here asking these questions if she didn't he thought. He cared so much about her too and that's what scared him too. He thought he didn't want to ruin what they had because of his immortality and Adam problem.

So instead of telling her the truth he continued to lie and said "Jo I'm fine, there is nothing wrong" with a fake smile.

Jo just shook her head in disbelief of what she was hearing and she thought to herself "Well I will never stop caring for him but I have let something go here because I can only take so much of this."

Jo got up from her seat and was headed for the door but just before she exited she made her mind up that this would be the last case her and Henry would work together for a while.

Jo left without saying anything and Henry knew he probably should have stopped of her but he thought to himself what would he say, I'm sorry and then another lie. He just hoped that he could salvage their partnership somehow and maybe with another case.

Well Henry was wrong, the next call he got for a case was from a Detective Franklin and he was a nice guy but he wasn't Jo. He loved solving crimes with her and making laugh or smile with his historical facts. It went this way for the next two weeks, he didn't even see Jo much in those weeks and if he did she only wanted to talk about her cases.

Henry was finishing up paper work for a case that he worked with Detective Franklin when Detective Hanson walked in his office.

"Hey Doc" Hanson said in a friendly tone.

Henry looked up from his paperwork and said "Hi Detective, How are things going?" with a brief smile.

"You tell me Henry, what is going on with you and Jo? Hanson said

"You couldn't break you two apart from working together and now you guys are barely talking". Hanson continued.

"The two of you have been off since the toy killer case. So Doc what happened?" Hanson said with a shrug.

Henry frowned and replied" It's complicated and a long story".

Hanson had one eyebrow up and said "Huh, Ok." with a curious look on his face.

"Look Henry, whatever problems you two have can you try to solve them soon because let's just say Jo is not having much fun without a certain M.E. around". Hanson said with a half smile

Hanson's cell phone rang and it was a new case, so as he walked out of Henry's office he waved bye to him and headed to the crime scene.

Henry just sat there for a bit thinking of what Hanson said and he thought there might still be a chance to fix this but the problem he wished he know how.

It was later on in the evening; Abe and Henry were eating dinner at the dining table when Abe said "I haven't seen a certain detective around here in a while".

Henry shook his head said "Really, Abraham you too?"

"Oh, so I'm not the only one who noticed, huh" Abe said almost laughing.

"So I'm guessing you didn't tell her when she came by the shop a while ago?" Abe asked

"No. I didn't and I made it worse and lied again when I had another chance at work" Henry said exhaustingly

"Let me guess, you said that was a relative in the picture and she didn't buy it?" Abe said with a smirk on his face.

"Ha ha. Yes." Henry said sarcastic tone.

"Well I know you well. Plus Jo's a smart woman you can't just pull that BS stuff on her. She's knows something wrong and you need to tell her". Abe said as he pointed at Henry.

"I wish it was that easy". Henry said in a depressing tone.

"It is that easy, Henry". Abe said with a louder tone to his voice.

"Look Henry, I'm not surprised that she hasn't called you and stop working with you, the woman is hurt. She trusted you and all you have done is show her that you don't feel the same." Abe said in a serious tone.

"But I'll do feel the same." Henry sighed and then continued but I'm just worried if I tell her Immortal she may never talk to me again and I don't want to ruin what we have" Henry put his hand to his face.

"Uh, ruin what you have?...right now you guys are not talking to each other." Abe said almost laughing.

"Henry you can deny it all you want but I know you care about her and she cares about you but you will never get that chance to be happy with her if you let the fear win." Abe said in serious tone.

Abe continued "And also I think you are not giving Jo enough credit, she reminds me of mom in certain ways and if you are straight with her I think she will accept your immortality."

Abe got up from the table and continued on and said "But It's up to you. You can be happy with Jo or be a mess and end up alone". Abe said with a shrug and pointed to his father.

Henry watched Abe go upstairs to bed and he thought to himself his son had a point, if he was going to be any kind of relationship with Jo he had to tell the truth and so Henry had an idea.

Henry took a cab to Jo's place and the ride there, Henry made up his mind no matter how this went good or bad, he was going let her know how he felt and how truly sorry his was for breaking her trust. He just didn't want to lose her and yes he thought he would tell her the truth.

Henry got out of the cab and walked up the stairs to Jo's place and stood there a minute before knocking on the door. As he waited for Jo to answer he could feel and see the cold New York night as every time he tried to take breathe to calm himself he saw it right in front of him.

Then the door started to open and he saw his beautiful partner standing there in a blue robe and he could tell she was tired and not very happy to see him.

"Henry what do you want? She sighed with displeasure..It's late." She said with some anger and tiredness.

"Jo just give me a minute please, and if you don't like what I say I can leave and we can keep doing what we been doing" Henry said with panic in his voice.

Jo rolled her eyes and said "Fine Henry, what is it?"

Henry looked down at the ground before he started and then said "Jo I'm sorry, all this time I been trying protect this secret and never thought how my lies would affect you" said looking at her sadly.

He continued "I never wanted to hurt you Jo, and yes you were right there is somebody after me but I didn't want to put you in danger" Henry voice started to crack as he continued on

"The best part of my days are working with you Jo, you're my partner and honestly much more then that if something happen to you I don't know what I would do." Henry said as he looked at Jo with tears swelling in his eyes.

"I promise you, I will tell you everything you want to know, I just don't want lose us or least our work partnership". Henry said almost shaking with tears rolling down his face.

Henry after he said what he needed to say just stood with sad eyes just waiting for Jo's response.

Jo couldn't believe what she heard for the first time in a while she knew Henry was speaking the truth. She was just saddened by the fact he felt like he had to face his trouble by himself but she was also glad to find out that he had the same feelings for her as she did for him.

Both of them just stood there looking at each for bit before Henry said "I should go" in shaky sad tone.

Before he could turn around and leave Jo grabbed his arm and softly said "Henry, wait."

When he turned around he saw something different in her eyes, but before he could say anything Jo pulled him in her house and slammed him against the wall near the door and slammed her lips right on his.

For Jo the frustration of just not being with him boiled over and she just needed him and she finally knew he felt the same way about her.

Jo ran her fingers through Henry's hair and started to take his coat off before stopping and just holding his face in her hands and saying to Henry softly," whatever battle you are fighting we are better off fighting together then apart."

Henry looked at her and thought she was right and his face just beamed of love and then surprising Jo he unloosened her robe and it fell and reveled a black bra and panties. Henry said with devilishly smile and flirty tone "Nice, detective."

Jo smiled and laughed as she pulled him up against her and felt his arousal against her. The two couldn't get enough of each other and touching each other and still kissing each other as Jo led him to her bedroom.

After a long night that lasted into the morning of making love the two woke up in each other's arm and Jo asked Henry "Alright, Henry what is going on with the picture." she said semi serious tone.

Henry smiled and replied "Ah, Yes…well let me start from the beginning."


End file.
